Caught in the Crosshairs
by Withoutatracelover996
Summary: ON HIATUS. Castle and Beckett find themselves in danger once again when a notorious criminal wants his brother released from jail. Watched at every moment through the scope of a gun, it isn't easy to sit down and relax, let alone - you know... Caskett fic. Romance Action/Suspense. ON HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

Castle sat on the bus next to Kate, a foul look on his face as he jolted back and forth with the bus' movement.

"Couldn't we have taken my car? At least it has air-conditioning," Castle whined. He lowered his voice, "And it doesn't smell bad."

Kate glanced past him at the homeless man sitting a few seats over from them. He sat rigidly, his eyes darting from side to side. The odour emanating from him drifted over to her, and she smelled the urine soaking his pant legs.

"Come on, Castle. The poor guy is obviously handicapped," Kate whispered back. "Plus, you know my car's in for repair, and cabbies are on strike."

"We could have walked. Actually, I would have preferred to walk," Castle complained.

The bus jolted to a halt and Castle lurched to the side, slamming his shoulder into a handrail. As Castle angrily muttered under his breath, two men got on the bus. They surveyed it, looking up and down the aisles until they spotted Beckett and Castle in the long rows at the back.

Moving towards them casually, each man sat on either side of Castle and Beckett.

Kate turned to Castle, inching into him ever so slightly as the man to her left pressed up against her thigh.

Castle too moved inwards, feeling restricted by the man on his right. Castle turned to Kate, about to suggest they move when cold steel object was pressed into his side.

Castle felt Kate stiffen beside him, and knew that she, too, was being subjected to the same treatment. Castle turned to Beckett, his eyes questioning what they should do.

Kate opened her mouth to answer when the bus slammed on its brakes. An awful shrieking sound pierced the air as metal collided with metal. People screamed as they were thrown forward, glass showered inwards and shots were fired. Smoke billowed from the front of the bus as a small fire raged under its hood. The homeless man from earlier was dead, a shard of metal embedded in his forehead.

Castle felt himself being pushed to his feet and desperately reached back to grab Kate's hand. He held on to her tightly as they were forced off of the mangled bus, still disoriented from the crash.

Castle looked back at Kate and saw blood dripping from a cut on her cheek. He struggled against the man holding his arm, but stopped when the gun dug farther into his back, a silent threat.

Castle saw the van waiting for them; its side doors open, ready to swallow them whole. Castle watched as Kate was pushed in front of him. She tried to kick out behind her, attempting to trip the man pushing her forwards. The man fired a shot that barely missed her waist.

Castle shouted out, but the man behind him quickly pistol-whipped his skull. Castle saw stars, but didn't lose consciousness. He watched Kate being shoved into the van, and soon felt strong arms push him into its confines as well.

As Castle sidled over to where Kate had landed, they watched as the doors to the van were quickly slammed shut, encasing them in darkness.

"Are you ok?" Kate asked.

"Yeah," Castle said. "How about you, are you alright?"

I'm fine," Kate responded distantly.

The sat in shocked silence a few moments longer, the van bumping down the road.

"I don't understand," Kate wondered aloud, breaking the silence. "This was a professional grab. We must have been followed, they couldn't have known we were going to take the bus today. But they left us untied and conscious."

"Maybe they have super ninja skills and aren't worried about us mortals overpowering them," Castle suggested.

Kate chewed on her bottom lip, "They must have some kind of plan."

The van suddenly halted and doors were slammed.

"Get ready to back me up," Beckett said, inching towards the sliding doors feet first.

Castle sat, unsure of how to prepare. He finally settled on a mean look with clenched fists held close to his chin.

The sliding doors burst open, sunlight blinding them as it sliced through the dark.

Beckett wasted no time, kicking out with both feet and catching one of the men with her heel. The second man grabbed her by the hair and forced her head sideways, smashing it into the van's side door. Kate let out a small cry of pain, and retaliated by thrusting her fists into the man's face. He grabbed her fist and jolted Kate's arm out if place, dislocating her shoulder. The man used her temporary weakness to his advantage and wrapped his arm around her neck, squeezing the air from her lungs.

Castle leapt onto the first man and tackled him to the ground. He pummelled his fists into the man's face, only stopping when he saw Kate up against the side of the van, her hands clawing uselessly at the large arm crushing her windpipe. Castle started to get up and help when a voice halted him.

"Stop," the voice commanded.

Castle looked up, confused.

The man holding Kate let her go, and Beckett fell to her knees, coughing.

"Handcuff them, please," the voice commanded.

The men obliged, the one goon bleeding profusely from his nose and mouth after Castle's beating.

Kate hissed when the second man roughly pulled her dislocated shoulder behind her back so as to fit her hands into the handcuffs.

Beckett breathed heavily, and then, regaining her composure, she looked up at the man in charge and gasped. "Oh, my God."

* * *

**A/N: New Castle fic! Hope you'll enjoy it. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you for your reviews Misterbluebutterfly, I'm Widget and lillyrush88. And thank you to those who followed and favorited. I appreciate your support!**

* * *

Kate Beckett stared at the notorious criminal standing in front of her, her mouth open in shock. "Dimitri Leandros."

"I see you've heard of me, Detective Beckett." the man smiled dashingly, barely hiding a fierce rage threatening to burn through his features. He was a handsome man in his thirties, with olive skin and dark brown hair. His eyes were a glittering sea green and his features distinguished, neither boy nor elder.

"Um," Castle broke the thick, angry tension filling the air. "Am I missing something?"

"Detective Beckett received a medal of honor after arresting my brother. Do you remember, Kate?" Dimitri asked.

Beckett narrowed her eyes at the use of her first name, "Of course. And I'm already looking forward to arresting you."

"Tsk tsk, a bit feisty this morning, are we? What makes you think you'll be alive to do so?" Dimitri asked, cocking his head as if speaking to a child.

Kate manoeuvred her hands until she could reach into her back pocket, retrieving a bobby pin. "I don't know, Leandros, maybe I'm jumping to conclusions here, but if you had wanted to kill us, wouldn't you have done it already?"

Dimitri laughed, "I'm glad you're taking your situation lightly, Detective Beckett. It's much more fun to surprise someone with death than deliver it to them like they were expecting it."

Kate continued moving the bobby pin around in her handcuffs, almost finished picking the lock. It was something she had learned to do during a slow day at the Precinct. It appeared that the hours of practice had finally paid off as the handcuffs opened with a barely audible click.

Castle kept his poker face steady as he watched Kate shake the handcuffs off of her hands. Was there anything this woman couldn't do? A kinky thought entered his mind and Castle quickly shook it off, trying to pay attention to the gravity of their situation. He couldn't, however, get rid of the stupid smile that lit up his face.

"Something funny, Mr. Castle?" Dimitri asked.

"I - uh..." Castle panicked. "I was just thinking about... how nice you looked today?" Castle scrunched up his face, confused by his own words. _Lame. _He thought.

Dimitri looked at him suspiciously, then turned to look at Kate.

Beckett tried to look inconspicuous, her shoulder aching from awkwardly holding it behind her back.

"You look uncomfortable, Kate," Dimitri said, staring at her intensely. "Would you prefer if your hands were in front of you?" he said with narrowed eyes.

Kate internally panicked, unsure of what to say. Her exterior remained strong, her poker face better than Castle's. "Actually, yes. That would be appreciated."

Dimitri stared at her a moment longer. He nodded at the bulky man standing next to her.

Castle watched in horror. With a dislocated shoulder, there was no way Kate could take on the man approaching her. Castle pulled against his handcuffs, rubbing his wrists raw in the process, and not making any headway.

Kate looked over at Castle, and mouthed something to him. _Trust me. _

The man kneeled behind her and before he was able to even register that Kate was unbound, she was gone. Running as fast as she possibly could, Kate dodged the cars in the auto junkyard. She ducked behind the broken and crushed cars, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket. She texted Javier, '_SOS. Trace my phone.' _Tucking the phone into her shoe, she froze when she heard footsteps crunch on broken glass a few cars over.

There was silence as both people were completely still. Kate hesitated a moment longer before springing out from behind the car, her feet pounding on the dirt. Gunshots rang out and she ducked as one shot pierced the car's side window, shattering glass down all around her.

Beckett continued to run until all she heard was silence. She took shelter behind a large semi, and knelt over to catch her breath. She cursed when her phone began to ring, noisily playing a tune that echoed through the junkyard.

Not recognizing the number, she answered it only to get it to stop ringing. "You have twenty seconds to show yourself, or I will kill your writer friend," Dimitri's voice rang out icily from the other end of the call.

"How do I know you haven't already?" Kate asked, her insides clenching in fear.

"Kate, don't do it, I'll be fi - " Castle was cut off by a grunt of pain.

"Ten seconds, Kate," Dimitri warned.

Beckett looked at the exit of the junkyard longingly, then remembered her text to Esposito. "Ok," she said into the phone. "I'm coming out."

Kate stood up from her hiding place and started walking back to where Castle was being held. One of Dimitri's hired guns spotted her and quickly made his way over, grabbing the back of her neck and squeezing. Kate bit back an irritated retort. At least he wasn't touching her shoulder.

Castle's heart sunk as he saw Kate being manhandled back to the clearing. "Kate," her name died on his lips as he winced when the back of her legs were kicked in and she landed on her knees.

A gun was trained on her head and zipties were forced around her hands, pulled until they were pinching the soft flesh of her wrists.

"Now," Dimitri spoke. "Why don't we continue."

"What do you want?" Kate asked, her patience quickly waning.

"I want my brother out of jail. By next Tuesday," Dimitri said.

Kate scoffed, "I can't do that."

"You will. Or I will kill you and everyone you care about," Dimitri said, directing the latter half of his sentence to Castle. He pulled out a collection of photographs from his inner jacket pocket and walked up to Castle, showing them one by one. His date night with Alexis, his mother at a showing of the latest Broadway performance. He and Kate, in his bedroom. Castle seethed, "How dare you threaten my family!"

Dimitri chuckled, "So you do have a protective side underneath all of that happy-go-lucky bullshit."

Kate's mind was working furiously while this exchange was going on. "We'll do it," she said.

"Good," Dimitri said. "You have four days."

The man next to Castle reached down and unlocked his handcuffs. Castle immediately brought his hands forward and rubbed at his wrists.

"The boys will escort you back to your Precinct," Dimitri said.

The men responded by pushing Kate and Castle towards the van. One more push landed them inside the back of the vehicle.

Dimitri smiled at them, "We'll be watching." His words echoed in Castle and Beckett's ears as the van's doors were slammed shut.

* * *

**A/N: Thoughts?**


	3. Chapter 3

Esposito roared up behind a large black van, flicking his siren on. "I've got you now, you son of a bitch," he said through gritted teeth. He doubled checked the GPS locator situated on his dashboard and was satisfied as his blue dot was directly behind Beckett's red.

Ryan sat in the passenger seat, nervously rubbing his wedding band. It was a habit he'd picked up since marrying his wife, Jenny. He took the ring off and set it inside the glove compartment as he always did before arresting a suspect. Maybe it was paranoia, but he didn't want some low-life commenting on his married status. Ryan re-directed his attention to the road and tried to ignore Esposito's manic driving habits.

Javier clutched the steering wheel and approached the van's bumper, flashing his lights. "Come on, be good boys and pull over. Nice and easy."

Ryan pulled out the intercom and spoke into it, "NYPD, pull over immediately."

Esposito revved the engine and lightly nudged the van, denting its bumper.

The van took a sudden right, and Esposito swore. He jerked the wheel to the right and the car swung around the corner at breakneck speed.

The van was one hundred meters ahead when it screeched to a halt. Its side door burst open and two people tumbled out, hitting the ground hard.

"Pull over," Ryan demanded.

"That's what I'm doing!" Esposito barked back, pulling over beside the two bodies lying in a heap on the ground.

* * *

Castle groaned as he pulled himself off of Beckett. "Are you ok?"

"God, Castle. Lay off the burgers," Kate said as she sat up. She hissed through her teeth when her shoulder shifted position, sending waves of excruciating pain through her arm and neck.

"Castle, Beckett," Esposito said as he jumped out of the car. "What happened?"

"Dimitri Leandros, he had his guys follow us and they rammed the city bus we were on," Kate said.

"Yeah we got word of the crash, ten people injured and one casualty. Hit and run," Ryan said.

"What happened to your arm?" Esposito said, noticing the way Kate held it awkwardly against her side.

"It's nothing, really. It just got banged around during our little visit with Dimitri," Kate said, her teeth biting into her lip when she spoke.

"Let me look," Ryan said, pulling her shirt down around her shoulder.

Kate winced as the fabric brushed her bruised joint, and then let out a small grunt of pain when Ryan gently prodded the swollen area.

"It looks dislocated, we should call a bus," Ryan said, directing his words to Esposito.

Javier took out his walkie-talkie and spoke into it, "This is unit 431, we need an ambulance at 31st and 9th."

"Ok, Beckett, I'm going to pop it back in," Ryan said.

"Um, do you know..." Castle started to ask.

"I took first-aid, Castle," Ryan said as if it were common knowledge.

"Alright, just checking," Castle said, his hands out in front of him.

"Ok, Beckett, this is going to hurt," Ryan said.

"You can squeeze my hand," Castle offered.

Kate snorted, "That's sweet, but no thanks." When Ryan wasn't looking she shot Castle a dirty look.

Castle responded with an innocent shrug, and Kate couldn't help but smile.

"And three!" Ryan said, jerking Beckett's arm and, with an audible crack, it popped back into place.

Kate gasped, "Hell of a warning, Ryan."

Kevin smiled to himself, "Like ripping off a band-aid."

Beckett tested her shoulder, tenderly rolling it around and was relieved to find the searing pain replaced by a dull ache. "Thanks Ryan," she said, "I owe you one."

"Actually you owe me six. But I want bottles, ok? Canned beer freaks me out," Ryan scrunched up his nose.

"You got it," Beckett grinned.

"Well, now that we're all chipper, can I mention that there is a psychotic Greek guy going to kill us if we don't bust his brother out of lockup?" Castle asked.

"Antonius Leandros. Out of jail. You're kidding right?" Esposito scoffed.

"Why, what did he do?" Castle asked, looking from Esposito to Kate.

Kate sighed, "He's a cop killer."

"The only way he's leaving jail is in a coffin," Ryan remarked.

"Don't worry, bro," Esposito said, catching the look of dread crossing over Castle's face. "We'll protect you."

"Yeah, we got your back," Ryan said, opening his jacket to flash his piece.

Castle tilted his head to the side, "Uh, Ryan?" he asked.

Kevin looked down to his gun and saw that it was missing. "What the hell?" he said, turning around in a circle and looking down at the ground.

Castle rubbed his eyes haggardly and moaned, "This is not reassuring."

The sound of a wailing siren was heard nearby.

"Ambulance is here," Esposito said.

"I think we're good here, Javi. I'm fine and so is Castle," Kate said.

Esposito gave her a look, "You are not wiggling out of this one, Beckett. You either get in the bus, or I'm going to tell Gates about your little episode and you'll have to be in the hospital. All. Night. Long."

Kate glared at him, "You think you're so smart."

"Actually, I am so smart," Esposito grinned, a dopey look on his face.

The ambulance pulled over and its doors popped open. Kate slowly made her way over to the back of the vehicle. She turned back, "You coming, Castle?"

"Yeah, just a second," Castle said. He turned to Ryan and held out the homicide detective's Glock.

"How did you - " Ryan asked, looking from the gun in his hand to Castle with a confused expression on his face.

Castle held his hands up in the air with an ear-to-ear grin, and shook them, "Magic!"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

Kate walked out of the hospital with Castle by her side and a bottle of painkillers in her right hand.

"Promise me you won't flush these ones?" Castle asked, gesturing to the pills she held on to.

"I don't like making promises I can't keep," Kate remarked.

Castle sighed, tugging on her waist. She stepped closer to him and they made their way to the car, shoulder to shoulder.

"Ryan and Esposito put an APB out on Leandros. They'll catch him and this whole thing will be over," Castle said.

Kate snorted, "Right. Leandros has been surrounded by criminals his whole life, he knows how to be invisible when he wants to be."

"Well then let's forget about him. Let the boys take care of it today, you come home with me," Castle smiled dashingly.

"I can't just forget about him, Castle. He's got cameras in your apartment for God's sake."

"I had CSU sweep the place, it's clean," Castle said. Seeing the look of doubt on Kate's face, he pleaded with her, "Please, Kate. For me?"

Kate looked at him, eyebrow raised. "Don't make that face."

"What, this face?" Castle asked, pouting his lip and comically raising his eyebrows.

Kate pushed her hand onto his lips, wiping the stupid expression off of his ruggedly handsome head.

Castle leaned in, kissing her and whispering, "Let's go home."

* * *

Leandros watched Castle open the door to his car for Kate to climb in. He snapped a few pictures, and smirked, "You have 3 more days to give me what I want. Then, I'm going to take everything away from you."

* * *

"Castle, I can't," Kate said, pushing him off of her.

"Why not?" Castle asked, disappointed.

"It's just," Kate hesitated. "There's a lot going on right now."

Castle gently did up the buttons on her shirt he had disturbed. "Ok, let me make you something to eat then."

"Castle Carbonara?" Kate asked, smiling with her tongue between her teeth.

"Of course," Castle said, waltzing into the kitchen and opening the fridge with a flourish.

"Let me help you," Kate said, walking over and quickly making herself at home in his kitchen.

"Ah, hey, what are you doing?" Castle asked, his mouth open as he turned from the fridge.

Kate looked at him, frozen still with a cheese grater in her hand, "What?"

Castle had that pained expression stuck on his face.

"Castle, what?" Kate asked again, setting the grater down.

"I'm sorry, it's tradition and it's a secret recipe and technically," Castle winced, the spoke very quickly, "Non-Castle's aren't allowed to cook in the kitchen."

"What?" Kate asked angrily, "What about Martha?"

Castle made a face, "She doesn't cook in this kitchen, she destroys food and cooking utensils in this kitchen. Not to mention that technically - she's a Rogers, secret code name Castle."

"Jeez, Castle. I didn't think you were so protective of your kitchen."

Castle shrugged.

"I cooked for you in the Hamptons," Kate pointed out.

"That's different. Lots of people cook in there," Castle said sheepishly.

"Castle, get over yourself," Kate said, pushing past him and pulling spices out of his cabinet.

Castle came over and grasped her arm. "Kate, let me cook for you, please."

She stared at him, the tension between them crackling. After a moment, she finally broke away, "Fine. But you owe me."

"Deal," Castle said smugly, returning to the kitchen.

Kate wandered through the apartment, picking up the various photographs lining his shelves. She stopped as one stood out to her, "Is this us?"

Castle leaned over from the steaming kitchen to squint at the photo in her hand. "Oh, yeah. That's when we were in LA."

Kate frowned, "I don't remember taking this picture."

"Oh, yes you do," Castle said, coming out from the kitchen and wiping his hands with a dishcloth. "We arrested Ganz at Santa Monica Pier, and I convinced you to come to the arcade with me."

Kate slowly nodded her head as the two year old memory came back to her.

"We won that giant bear," Castle started.

"And we couldn't take it on the plane, so we took a picture with it," Kate smiled. "I remember."

"Winston," Castle recalled the name of the giant pink teddy bear.

"That's what you wanted to call it, but I thought it looked more like a Chester," Kate said.

"I don't know, he looks like a Winston to -"

"Castle!" Kate cut him off, "The sauce!"

Castle whipped around to see black smoke billowing up from the stovetop. He rushed over and fanned out the flames, "Aw man, this was looking like it was going to be a good batch, too."

"We can order in," Kate suggested.

"You know," Castle said, pulling her into his arms. "I'm really not that hungry anymore."

"I don't think I am either..." Kate said, a twinkle in her eye.

"You sure you're up for this? We could just call it a night, go to bed early." Castle suggested.

"I think you've had enough disappointment for one day," Kate said, her eyes on the blackened sauce.

Castle gently took her hand in his, "Sounds good to me."


End file.
